Using communication technologies separate computers disposed at separate locations can be configured to work together to process certain tasks. For examples, mobile devices can be used to collect data at the locations of the users of the mobile devices; some servers can be used to store the data in a centralized location; and other servers may be used to process the data.
There are technologies for the authorization of a third party to access the account of a user on a server without exposing their password the third party. For example, OAuth is an open standard for an authorization process that allows a resource owner to authorize a third-party access to their resources stored on a server without sharing the credential of the resource owner with third-party.
U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2005/0074126, entitled “Single Sign-on Over the Internet using Public-Key Cryptography”, discloses an authentication server that allows a client to sign into a separate secure server using a ticket obtained from the authentication server.
U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2014/0351033, entitled “Systems and Methods of Incentivizing Transactions”, discloses an offer of a discount or other incentive contingent upon social media promotion requirements, such as a health update. The health update may be food data tracking food intake, fitness data (e.g., walking, running, biking, or swimming data) collected by a fitness device, and medical data tracking a medical condition, medical test results, or health data by devices such as a scale, a pedometer, a glucose meter, a body fat meter, a health tracking device, or a health organization server.
U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2009/0112766, entitled “Device Including Multiple Payment Applications”, discloses a method to automatically select one or more payment applications, such as credit cards, debit cards, to use in a transaction so that the selected payment applications give the consumer an optimized benefit or benefits. The method can be implemented in portable consumer devices, such as phones. For example, a portable consumer device stores payment applications corresponding to payment cards. After the portable consumer device receives transaction information about the items being purchased from a point-of-sale device, the portable consumer device determines which of the payment applications stored in it will give the consumer the optimal benefit. For example, after receiving the transaction information, the portable consumer device determines that the consumer is purchasing groceries and then determines the payment application that provides the optimum benefit for the consumer for the current transaction.
U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2013/0024371, and entitled “Electronic Offer Optimization and Redemption Apparatuses, Methods and Systems”, discloses an e-wallet account that can hold payment accounts, such as a credit card, a debit card, etc. After receiving a purchase order request via the consumer wallet device, the system determines an optimized payment card and offer selection based on the user payment card and offer selection preference data to execute a payment transaction using the optimized payment card and offer selection in response to the purchase order request.
The disclosures of the above discussed patent documents are hereby incorporated herein by reference.